City Hall’s top watchdog announced Friday he has launched a sweeping probe of the city's besieged red light camera program in response to a Tribune investigation that found suspicious ticket spikes at dozens of intersections throughout the city.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said his office will examine the shortcomings exposed by the Tribune’s reporting to ensure the program is run “more efficiently, fairly, and in a manner fully deserving of the public’s trust.”

Like most government watchdogs, Ferguson does not usually issue announcements at the start of his investigations. But on Friday, he used a news release to mark his entrance into a controversy that touched a raw nerve with many Chicago-area drivers for more than a week.

“Recent articles in the Chicago Tribune have raised important questions about the red light camera program both past and present,” said the release. “The office has received, and expects going forward, the full cooperation and assistance of the city.”

The Tribune found thousands of drivers were fined during wild swings in ticketing in which some cameras that normally tagged just a few drivers a day suddenly and temporarily issued up to 56 tickets per day. The administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been unable to explain the spikes or to produce records that might shed light on their causes.

“In the wake of recent media reports, the public’s questions regarding the red light camera program are understandable,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in the release.

The inspector general added that his office “will attempt to identify past program shortcomings, including any that may have allowed the citation spikes reported in the media, and will report its findings and recommendations on how the city can manage the red light camera program more efficiently, fairly, and in a manner fully deserving of the public’s trust.”

The announcement came a day after a group of Chicago aldermen sent Ferguson a letter asking for the probe, raising questions about the oversight, consistency and fairness of a camera system in “continued disorder.”

The outspoken Progressive Caucus of eight aldermen, led by Scott Waguespack, 32nd, requested a review of operations and revenue of the red light ticketing program, including issues ranging from the timing of yellow lights to inconsistent enforcement of traffic laws.

The group also requested a flow chart of city employees involved in the program’s oversight “because no one seemed to be in charge.”

“In light of this continued disorder within the program, we are requesting assistance from your office in providing a review of the red light program,” the letter said.

Ferguson already had received a request on Monday from the Emanuel administration to help in a review of the program. Ferguson’s investigators already have some familiarity with it — they’re working with federal authorities to investigate corruption allegations surrounding the red light camera contract that once was held by Redflex Traffic Systems.

And last year, Ferguson conducted an audit of the way camera locations are chosen by the administration and criticized City Hall for “a lack of basic record keeping and an alarming lack of analysis” in the red light camera program.

The aldermen asked Ferguson to examine the causes of the ticket spikes, figure out how the city has spent nearly half a billion dollars in fines it has collected from drivers since its inception, and whether there were “unannounced changes to the standards for ticketing.”

“Does the data revealing these spikes lead to other anomalies in the system or problems not unveiled in your 2013 review or in the Tribune investigation?” the aldermen wrote. “Of the 4 million tickets written, is there indication of other spikes in prior years where the same issued may have occurred?”

“Was it a system malfunction, were there unannounced changes to the standards for ticketing or was there direct human intervention that was taking place?” the alderman asked.

The letter was delivered the same day City Hall began to provide some details about a new review process it established to offer at least 9,000 drivers ticketed during the spikes a second chance at contesting their tickets. Drivers, who will be notified by mail and will have 45 days to ask for the review, which the Emanuel administration said will be conducted by an outside auditor.

Neither Emanuel nor his aides have addressed questions about the broader and more central issue raised by the Tribune investigation: How to deal with the thousands of drivers who may have been unfairly ticketed by camera systems that suddenly targeted more minor infractions — such as rolling right turns — that for months and years had been excused by the same camera system.

National experts who reviewed the Tribune’s findings said such inconsistent enforcement is unfair and should prompt refunds whether or not there was a technical infraction. On Thursday, Emanuel declined to address the issue of fairness, instead suggesting the question itself was unfair.

“If the 9,000, or any one of them is wrong, they’re going to get a refund, because they deserve it,” Emanuel told reporters.

On Friday, Waguespack raised concerns about the haste with which the Emanuel administration set up a new review process. He said any such process aimed at getting refunds to drivers should come after City Council hearings and a full vetting of what happened.

“I know many of these people who were ticketed will want their money back as soon as possible,” he said. “But this is something the administration is really good at, putting this stuff together really quickly with no oversight or input from the City Council.”

Waguespack said he will advocate for another process for appeals after all the appropriate investigations and hearings are complete. “This is not the end of it,” he said.

Ferguson said his office is “prioritizing an immediate review of the program” and “will publicly report the findings from its review of past activities, along with any recommendations for how the City, working with the new vendor, can assure the program operates effectively and fairly in the future.”

“If the review reveals any indication of purposeful manipulation or unlawful conduct, OIG will take action to investigate and will work with the appropriate prosecutorial authorities,” Ferguson said.